B-Easy

Culling the waters for any overnight developments in the Michael Beasley story ...

Here is a thorough synopsis from Miami Herald beat writer Michael Wallace, who traces a series of offseason events that could have contributed to Beasley's rehab trip.

Since the season ended, Beasley has dealt with the birth of his daughter, an Olympic snub from USA Basketball and persistent trade rumors. That's tough stuff for a 20-year-old.

Two good columns on the issue by ESPN.com's J.A. Adande and our own Kevin Haskin. Both tackle the notion that more time in college can facilitate a seamless transition to the NBA lifestyle.

"College improves you, but it doesn't eliminate your problems," Adande writes. I agree. Beasley developed a strong support system at K-State -- people who kept him out of trouble, reminded him of his responsibilities and found productive uses for his idle time. He tried to transplant part of that support system to Miami -- Bruce Shingler, the manager quoted in all the wire stories, was an administrative assistant at K-State during Beasley's lone season -- but it's impossible to duplicate the structure you have as a college athlete once you go pro. This, I was told at the time, was why Beasley really did agonize over the decision to jump to the NBA.

Whether you're 23, 20 or 19, there's going to be a culture shock once your support system disappears. College is great for athletes in many ways -- it prepares them for the spotlight and allows them to learn with a safety net -- but it's not reality. And the one variable that changes everything -- $$$$$ -- is not part of the equation when you're in college.

Adande also makes an interesting point about Twitter: "You have to think that if the Heat insisted Beasley go to rehab, it's because of what they saw on Twitter. I'd much rather it happen this way than with a worse set of circumstances, such as one that came from a court order. This could have been much, much worse if it had been allowed to progress."

That's true, though I'm not sure Twitter is the clear-cut hero of this story. It's kind of a chicken-or-egg discussion: Did Twitter cause the problems or simply bring them to light? We know Beasley's fishy photo created a strong backlash, and we know Beasley is a sensitive guy. I'm sure it hurt him to see people calling him stupid, to see that picture showing up in sports blogs with snarky pot jokes. Before Twitter, Facebook and other social media, Beasley might have showed that picture to a few friends and shoved it a drawer. Now it's out there for everyone to see and ridicule.

The point is, we all know a lot more about each other than we used to. And that applies to all of us -- things we used to say casually to friends are now etched into a blog and recorded for posterity. Is it a good thing? Yes. It means people see the warning signs when we're having problems. But it's a bad, thing, too, because our youthful mistakes -- and we all make them -- are broadcast to anyone with a computer.

Without getting too Orwellian here, it's worth wondering: Is the social media craze turning life into one big reality show, where we all live our lives in front of an audience? Only if we let it, I guess.